The Giants Seem to Shrink at Halftime

New York Stays Close Early in Their Games, Then Collapses

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.—During a winless start to the NFL season, the Giants' flaws haven't been tough to identify.

They can't run the ball, they're hopeless in pass protection and they have developed a troubling tendency to commit turnovers. If all that isn't bad enough, their kicker keeps botching field goals.

But beyond those obvious concerns, there's another peculiar problem that has quietly been one of the major contributors to this team's 0-4 start: halftime.

Of all the issues that the Giants are facing ahead of Sunday's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the most perplexing may be how this team can look so completely lost whenever they emerge from the locker room for the second half.

In two games this season, the Giants trailed by just three points at the end of the first half. Believe it or not, they actually led the undefeated Denver Broncos heading into halftime. But almost every week, when they retake the field for the third quarter, a seemingly close encounter goes into a tailspin.

"We're very much in the game, whether it's 30-24, 16-17, 10-7, it doesn't matter what [the score] is," said head coach Tom Coughlin. "We're right there to make a play, to put ourselves in a position to win the game and we haven't done it."

So much for the halftime pep talk. In four games, the Giants have surrendered a league-high 49 points in the third quarter—more than the Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs have given up all season—and they have been outscored by an average of more than two touchdowns in the opening 15 minutes of the second half.

They've consistently looked so clueless coming out for the third quarter that some wonder whether someone has spiked the halftime Gatorade.

"We come out of halftime, we're right in the game and then all of a sudden you look up and we're down by two touchdowns," said rookie tackle Justin Pugh.

The Giants' ugly showings in the third quarter might appear to suggest that the coaches are getting outfoxed at halftime. In a game in which minor tweaks to the game plan can produce major improvements from one quarter to the next, the adjustments in the Giants' locker room have had the opposite effect.

But the Giants reject that explanation. For starters, linebacker Mark Herzlich says that the focus on halftime adjustments is out of touch with today's game.

Rather than using a single 12-minute intermission to make alterations to the game plan, modern coaches enact changes in real time, using overhead photos to analyze their opponents and instructing players on schematic changes as they huddle on the sideline. "We don't wait to put things in at halftime," said Herzlich. "You've got to be ready to adapt your playbook from the first series."

If there is a reason for the third-quarter struggles, it may be psychological. Pugh said that the team has endured some rough plays at the end of first halves, such as Josh Brown's missed field-goal in a three-point game against the Chiefs last weekend, which may have been playing on their minds in the third quarter.

It's also possible that the Giants defense has simply started to wear down in the third quarter. The team's inability to sustain drives means the defense has been on the field for a league-high 41 plays on average in the first halves of games.

But like almost everything else that has plagued the Giants this season, it could be that the weekly third-quarter collapse is a function of their offensive line.

The inability of the line to open holes for the running game has forced offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride to rely on misdirection and deception to manufacture positive yardage. The Giants' most successful runs this season have come on trap plays or running-back draws, which are designed to catch the defense off guard.

By the beginning of the third quarter, however, the Giants' opponents have usually seen through these tricks. "You try to give illusions of one thing and, in fact, come back and do something different," said Gilbride. "But you can only do that so many times. You're just not going to fool them 60 plays a game."

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